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Felix Baumgartner’s Fall Speed Faster Than First Thought

Skydiver Felix Baumgartner’s fall speed was faster than anyone else first thought when he jumped from 24 miles above the Earth.

Official numbers for “Fearless Felix” were leased on Monday and show that he reached 843.6 mph. That speed equates to Mach 1.25.

Fox News reports that Brian Utley, who observed the jump for the International Federation of Sports Aviation, stated in October that preliminary figures showed Baumgartner reached a maximum speed of 833.9 mph.

No one has ever reached Mach 1.25 wearing simply a high-tech suit. Fearless Felix flew supersonic for 30 seconds during the jump, which took place over New Mexico.

Despite going through what many would consider a harrowing event, Baumgartner’s heart rate stayed below 185. His breathing was also fairly steady. The numbers also show that Baumgartner’s leap was from an altitude of 127,852 feet. The number is 248 feet lower than initial estimates.

The Boston Herald notes that Art Thompson, technical project director for the Red Bull-sponsored project, stated of the new statistics:

“He jumped from a little bit lower, but he actually went a little bit faster, which was pretty exciting. It’s fun for us to see reaching Mach speeds and proving out a lot of the safety systems.”

Thompson added that there were no major surprises in the final report for Felix Baumgartner’s fall. The skydiver hit Mach speed at 34 seconds. By the time he was at 91,300 feet, he reached peak speed. From there, he was back to subsonic speeds by 75,300 feet.

The whole fall lasted four minutes and 20 seconds. But not everything was perfect. Baumgartner went into a flat spin while he was over Mach 1. He spun for 13 seconds and made 14 to 16 spins before he was able to regain control.

About 52 million people watched the YouTube live stream of Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic jump.